Potato News from Asia

There was a need to constitute a potato promotion board at the central level in order to look into various issues beginning from cultivation to consumption of the tuber in the country. The matter was discussed at the annual meeting of the Federation of...

As Guizhou prepares for the three-day 2010 China potato festival to be held on May 28, statistics show that potato cultivation in the region is continuing to expand.According to statistics, the potato planting areas in Guizhou province has increased fr...

Taurine, the ingredient most famously linked to energy drinks, may help reduce levels of acrylamide in foods, suggests new research from Korea.French fries exposed to a taurine solution prior to frying contained 96 per cent less acrylamide than control...

Frito Lay India is looking at increasing contract farming of potato in India by almost four-fold over the next three years.   “Currently, there are 15,000 farmers doing contract farming of potato for us while we are sourcing the commodity from 40,000 f...

Frito-Lay India - with a market share of 60%- is drawing up a fresh game plan to drive volumes. To start with, the company is increasing its manufacturing capacity by setting up a new plant in West Bengal in the second half of 2010.“We are extending ou...

Frito-Lay, the snack food division of PepsiCo India, is contemplating export of indigenously-developed products Kurkure and Aliva to markets such as the US and UK. 'We are looking at markets where the Indian diaspora is strong'.

The results for the 'Give Us Your Dillicious Flavour' that was launched in October 2009 by Frito Lay's have been declared. Four flavours have been shortlisted from around 1.3 million entries from consumers. Each of the entries that got shortlisted get...

Since the beginning of Mar­ch, the price of potato has dipped more than 16 per ce­nt on account of higher pro­duction of the commod­ity in Ind­ia this year. High arriv­als have be­en reported in the man­dis and th­at has kept the sentiments we­ak for t...

Hundreds of farmers blocked roads in Dinajpur and Rangpur yesterday demanding compensation as thousands of bags of potatoes they kept in cold storage have rotten due to alleged negligence of the authorities.   The affected farmers said the authorities ...

The West Bengal Government has announced a transport subsidy of Rs 11 crore for inter-State transport of potatoes as well as export to other countries. West Bengal's potato production almost doubled to 95 lakh tonnes this year, against just about 55 l...

Potatoes also have a museum. China's first and only "Potato Museum"was completed in Yanqing County, Beijing. The history, current condition, development, promotion and application of potatoes in China are shown at the exhibition hall which co...

China announced today to start a mid-term review of the anti-dumping duties on imports of potato starch from the European Union, a move which may lead to the increase of duties imposed in 2007.

The China International Potato Summit Forum was jointly held by MOA Agricultural Trade Promotion Centre and the Government of Yanqing County, Beijing. Vice Agricultural Minister Niu Dun attended the forum and delivered remarks, together with Director-G...

McCain Foods (India), the Indian subsidiary of McCain Foods Canada, has appointed Leo Burnett as its creative partner following a multi-agency pitch.   The agency has been mandated to build awareness of the new brand in India by developing and implemen...

UAE-based FMCG group Masafi has launched its food division, the Masafi Gourmet, in the Qatari market. The company will mark its foray into Qatar with the launch of premium potato chips in four flavours: Sea Salt, Sweet Chilly, Four Cheese and Labnah ...

A bumper crop, government apathy and exploitation by middlemen has driven a debt-ridden potato farmer to commit suicide in North Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district this week. Many, however, are not ready to give in without a fight although the odds are agai...

Iraq's Ministry of Agriculture banned the import of potato seeds and called to rely on local products after they are subject to examinations by an an ad hoc ministerial committee, according to a Ministry release on Sunday. "The decision was taken...

Maggie returned with her husband to his family home in Chuzhou on the eve of the Chinese New Year, just in time for the grand opening of the city's first KFC restaurant. She took her husband's nephews to the big event – and waited a half-hour just to ...